The current trend does seem to be upwards, specifically in loyalist areas such as East Belfast, coupled with another attack on the Alliance Office it would seem to be an exercise in gaining a stranglehold on areas by shadowy paramilitaries.

It is of course no surprise considering 18 months ago the main Unionist parties handed over control to the mob with their leaflets and since then attacks on those who do not toe the line seem par for the course.

Ultimately the folks in these areas will be the ones to suffer as they will remain under the yoke of the gangs, those not welcome will move elsewhere, and their political representatives don't give a damn about them, clearly!!

Can't speak for the current period as the figures don't appear to be published yet but it is not a result of Police reporting or recording practices, the figures going back to 2004:

"In July 2011 the first bulletins covering trends in domestic abuse and hate motivated incidents and crimes were published, pulling together figures for each financial year from the start of each data series. These bulletins were the first to present crime figures with a domestic abuse or hate motivated based on crime classifications which were realigned to match those used by the Home Office for England & Wales. Annual reports published prior to this are based on the previous crime classifications in place at the time they were published. While small changes were experienced at the level of individual classifications due to the realignment, overall figures at a Northern Ireland level, as well as those for each policing district and policing area, do not differ from totals previously published."
http://www.psni.police.uk/quarterly_hate_motivati...
http://www.psni.police.uk/index/updates/updates_s...

Did they ever stop????

Ok that's un oeuff of those eggseptionally bad jokes.........................................

Yes unfortunately we have a long way to go!!

On a side note I see the headline has been changed to just schoolgirl.

I hope I didn't come across as having a go, all I meant was it is hard to keep working class kids in education at the best of times, it would be easier to have the children after the education, but that was just my opinion.

Your experience speaks differently and your mother sounds like a fine person Surenah, I'm sure you are rightly proud of her.

I couldn't agree more with the misrepresentation of how many people actually live off benefits, real Daily Mail territory.

What exactly does her name, religion or political affiliation have to do with it, particularly when you express it in such 'classy terms'.

The shortage of housing for Catholics in North Belfast is a long standing issue, going back over 10 years, due to a growing Catholic population and a shrinking Protestant one. This has contributed much to the interface tensions with Protestants feeling they are being squeezed out.

The Housing Executive have acknowledged the issue themselves as far back as 2000:
http://touch.nihe.gov.uk/north_belfast_housing_st...

To quote from the above strategy document issues include: -
Demography - where it is shown that despite a reduction in the
population between 1971 and 1991, the main trends point
towards growth in the Catholic population and a corresponding
decline in the Protestant population.
•
Social Waiting List Trends - where it is noted that housing
needs are more acute in the Catholic community than in the
Protestant community. For example, 60% of Catholic applicants
are in *urgent need compared to 36% of Protestant applicants

The views are backed by Participation and Practice of Rights (PPR) project http://www.pprproject.org/ who produced a report saying little progress has been made despite the NIHE strategy, and the residents are in fact backed by UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing and the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People.

Dolores Kelly is on the Stormont Social Development committee, which has responsibility for Housing, was approached by the residents who asked for a meeting, she obviously articulated concerns following that meeting.

But hey in your words "Person with fenian name says fenians are discriminated against. Shock , horror! "

In my words, it ill behoves you or any other human being to make such comments.

Thankfully we have moved beyond subjecting our sisters, daughters etc to that sort of stigma and suffering!

I agree Mrs_D, the crux of the story is that these girls should never have been subjected to this.

I do agree to a point with Gamadu, only in the terms that it would generally be better for these girls long term future not to have to deal with pregnancy at that age. However each persons life and choices are their own.